Day 1

Day 1 is over and what a day!

It started off how you'd expect; they had prepared well for my arrival and I was handed a few print outs with useful information about their computer system, a list of proofreaders' marks, guidelines for their interns (a list of usual duties & tasks such as bin and washing up rota etc!) as well as their book list and internal codes. I tried to familiarise myself with the codes as much as I could until I was handed an Excel spreadsheet of the previous year's appointment list for the London Book Fair. The spreadsheet had a few deletions and amendments which I was to alter and save. Apparently I will be responsible for the organisation of their appointments at the LBF.

The majority of my day was spent filing - I had to go through shelves of folders and remove all printed e-mail correspondence which was older than 2009 (this is most certainly not a paperless office!). It sounds mundane however I skim read a few e-mails and became acquainted with some of the different publishers that the Director is in contact with plus it was good to see the style of language people use to communicate with each other. I've previously worked in financial services and for a scientific NGO so I wasn't sure how formal or informal the language would be.

I was also told that every Monday morning everyone had to write their own To Do list for that week and save it in a folder that everyone can access. I can imagine this being a problem for some but for me and my passion in writing To Do lists, it was most welcome!

As 2 colleagues (the Editorial Assistant and another intern) are leaving tomorrow we had a handover meeting when they ran me through some tasks that I'll need to do such as chasing publishers in Brazil, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain for FCs (finished copies of books). FCs are sent to publishers to help them decide if they want to co-publish the books however if they decide to reject the pitch, we need the FCs back.

Another mini project was a general stock take of all Macs and what software versions they were using.I jotted down a few things that I need to practice or research a bit about such as different Mac software programmes as I'm not too familiar with Mac products, having only used Windows or Linux in the past. I noticed a distinct lack of stationery and general resources so tomorrow I shall go better equipped with a pencil case, notebook, divides and Post-it notes!

As to the office itself:

• The dress code is smart/casual (one of my worst nightmares!)
• There are around 8 people working there; 4 of whom are interns
• It's a spacious office in London with lots of shops close by.  

The other colleagues were very friendly yet somewhat subdued, or perhaps just really concentrated on their work! It's an international team - Portugal, Italy, France, the US, South Africa and Denmark are represented - in fact, the only other English person is the Director herself! Fortunately I had the occasion to talk to everyone on a more informal level after work as we went for leaving drinks to celebrate the Editorial Assistant's new job elsewhere. It was a great opportunity in fact as we all asked each other about where we were from, how we got into Publishing etc so it was pretty interesting. I was also asking tactful questions about potential job opportunities because it's hard to tell, as such a small company, if they have the resources. It seems as though internships can be extended for a few months however I cannot afford this option! One girl was taken on after working as an intern for 4 months. Unpaid labour is a contentious subject and I think that The Guardian sums it up quite well in this article.

Although I cannot tell how much of my work will actually be editorial, I am very much looking forward to learning more about the world of books and it's a great opportunity for me which I am so grateful for! The other intern described her experience there as "intense" and I cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into it!